Woman accused of torching mother's home

Daniel Tepfer

Updated 9:18 pm, Wednesday, July 9, 2014

A Brookfield woman, accused of setting her mother's Stratford home on fire, went berserk in the courtroom Wednesday threatening vengeance against one of the prosecutor's witnesses and vowing she would be free after the judge ordered her held in lieu of $1 million bond.

"I'm getting out and I'm going to get that snitch," Madeline Griffin screamed as she was led away by judicial marshals in state Superior Court in Bridgeport. "You better watch out snitch."

Griffin is accused of setting fire to her mother's home on May 28, 2011, to collect the insurance money.

During Wednesday's hearing, Senior Assistant State's Attorney Howard Stein urged Judge Robert Devlin to increase Griffin's $250,000 bond because of three arrests subsequent to the one for the fire.

In June 2013, Griffin was arrested by Brookfield police and charged with interfering with police after police said she fought with officers.

On Sept. 10, 2013, police said Griffin called 911 and used a false name to claim that her sister, who is a witness against her in the arson case, assaulted her. Griffin was later charged with falsely reporting an incident.

But Stein said the most troubling arrest involved Griffin allegedly forging juvenile court documents to gain custody of a niece who police said she then enrolled in Brookfield High School. Griffin is facing forgery and larceny charges in that case.

Her mother's Stratford home was heavily damaged by the fire. Police said an investigation determined that gasoline was poured throughout the house and ignited.

Inside the home's garage, firefighters found the daughter's car loaded with frozen food, two TV sets, a digital camera, jewelry and four cellphones, police said.